FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1997                          (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
  JOINT U.S., NEW JERSEY ACTION REAPS $30 MILLION SETTLEMENT TO
             CLEAN UP GEMS LANDFILL SUPERFUND SITE IN
                 GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY
                                 
               Settlement Designed To Avoid Further
                Costly, Time-Consuming Litigation
                                 

     WASHINGTON, D.C. --  The federal government and the State of
New Jersey today reached a $30 million settlement with nearly 300
responsible parties for cleanup activities at the GEMS Landfill
Superfund site in Gloucester Township, New Jersey.

     Today's settlement includes 252 de minimus parties whose
contribution of hazardous substances to the site was small. 
Through this settlement, the largest de minimus settlement in New
Jersey history, the two governments have provided these small
parties with an effective means of avoiding costly litigation,
while addressing their share of the responsibility.

     The site includes a 60-acre former municipal landfill. 
Industrial wastes, including asbestos, solvents and heavy metals,
were dumped at the GEMS Landfill from 1969 to 1980, contaminating
groundwater, surface water and sediments.  GEMS was placed on the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Priorities
List of hazardous waste sites in 1983.

     "This settlement and other recent agreements are examples of
how this office, working with DEP, the federal government and the
landfill users, has been able to save New Jersey taxpayers tens
of millions of dollars in cleanup costs," said New Jersey
Attorney General Peter Verniero.  "This settlement is the
culmination of four years of intensive negotiations with hundreds
of defendants.  I commend the hard work and dedication of the
lawyers in the Attorney General's Office who helped shape this
agreement."

     "This is a landmark settlement for New Jersey.  As a result
of state and federal efforts, New Jersey will have cleaner water
and air.  It's a banner day for New Jersey's environment," said
Bob Shinn, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection.  "We now begin the final phase of a
major clean-up project that was complicated by several legal and
environmental issues, due to the number of parties involved and
the presence of rare plants which now will be permanently
protected."

     EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox called the
settlement another example of how Superfund benefits the public. 
"Actions like this help extend resources of Superfund by making
the polluter pay.  Because private parties are footing the bill,
money from the program's trust fund can now go to fund cleanups
at sites where viable responsible parties have not been found."
     "Today's settlement is an example of the effective Superfund
administrative reforms at work, helping us clean up sites like
the GEMS Landfill while charging those responsible for the
contamination instead of the American taxpayer," said Lois J.
Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice
Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. 
"Superfund settlements save all parties involved -- the
government, defendants, and especially the American taxpayer --
the expense of costly and time-consuming litigation."

     "This settlement brings to a close a significant chapter in
the Superfund clean-up effort at a major landfill site in New
Jersey," said Faith Hochberg, United States Attorney for the
District of New Jersey.  "Today's settlement, which will insure
the proper cleanup of the GEMS Superfund site without burdening
the taxpayers, is a result of the cooperative efforts of the
State of New Jersey, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office.  We are
committed to working with EPA to continue the cleanup of all New
Jersey Superfund sites for the benefit of future generations."

     The consent decree was filed today by the Justice Department
in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey on behalf of New
Jersey, U.S. EPA, and the U.S. Department of Interior.  The group
of responsible parties is a broad spectrum of large and small
companies, municipalities and municipal agencies.

     The settlement creates a privately-financed trust of $16.5
million to pay for the construction of a groundwater extraction
and on-site pretreatment system under EPA oversight.  It will
fund the operation and maintenance of the system for the first
ten years.  It also reimburses EPA $3.275 million for past
cleanup costs at the site.  The settlement reimburses the state
over $5 million for its past cleanup costs and for the loss of
millions of gallons of potable groundwater beneath the site.  An
additional $4.1 million will fund New Jersey's operation of the
groundwater remedy after the first ten years.

     A previous settlement with private parties, worth
approximately $32 million, paid for the proper closing of the
landfill and the installation of a gas collection and treatment
system , which was completed in August 1995.

     Today's announcement of further cost recovery, and
assurances that the remaining future work will be privately
financed, means that 95 percent of the total cost of the site
cleanup will be borne by the responsible parties.

     Additionally, the settlement satisfies the joint federal and
state governments' natural resources damage claims with a payment
of $488,000.  These funds will be used by the state for the
management of an approximately 100-acre preserve to protect Swamp
Pink, a species of plant listed as endangered under New Jersey's
Endangered Species Act, and listed as threatened under the
federal Endangered Species Act.
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97-001